Lan Ying's POV
"How is everyone doing?" Lan Xichen asked.
"They're doing fine but we're a little bit busy because of the recent incidents. I'll be leaving with the juniors this afternoon to exterminate water ghouls in Biling Lake." I replied while feeding the rabbits in front of me with cabbage and carrots.
"Did something happened to the Jiang Sect?"
"Nothing really but an serious incident happened at a village near them so they have to investigate it" I said when Lil' Apple came closer to me and made a noise, air coming out of it's nostrils.
I patted it's head before grabbing an apple from the basket. I placed the apple before its mouth, it bit the whole apple munching it between it's teeth.
"I actually came here to find Lan Wangji to report the incident in Yunmeng and Yueling." I added.
"Isn't it today Young Master Wei and Wangji's first wedding anniversary? They must be in Caiyi Town right now." Lan Xichen said, stroking the rabbits head. Was it today? I didn't know that. Why did I forgot it?
"Xiongzhang, how did you know?" I asked.
"Because yesterday was A-Yao's first death anniversary." he replied. I was speechless for a moment. He can still remember Jin Guangyao's day of death. It just shows how much he really cares for his sworn brother. I shouldn't have asked him...
"Xiongzhang, I'm sorry..." I apologized and lowered my head a little. I suddenly a felt a soft hand on my head. He slowly patted my head.
"You don't have to apologize Shanli. I am totally fine now. I can't just grieve on A-Yao's death forever, It will tarnish my position as the sect leader. We sometimes need to accept things to move on to our life." he said and smiled. I returned the smile to him. I just realized that he wasn't just grieving. He was also trying to accept all the things that happened that day.
I looked at the rabbit he was carrying in his arms. I suddenly recognize the rabbit. "Xiongzhang, do you know that the rabbit you're holding is named Guangyao?" I asked him. Half of the rabbits here are named after the people I knew from other sects.
"Really?" he asked back and smiled. I nodded at him.
"I named that rabbit after Lianfang-zun's name." I said.
I looked at xiao-Cheng and caressed it's fur "And this one is Jiang Cheng, but I call it xiao-Cheng." I added. I grab the a carrot and gave it to Lan Xichen.
"Guangyao likes carrot more than cabbage." I said as he grab the carrot and feed it to the rabbit he's holding. I also grab an apple for Lil' Apple and cabbage for xiao-Cheng.
Lil' Apple ate the whole apple again. I placed the cabbage near xiao-Cheng's mouth, he nibbled the cabbage. I squat down and put both of xiao-Cheng and the basket down the ground. xiao-Cheng just continued nibbling on the cabbage. I grab some cabbage for the other rabbits too and gave each of them one leaf of cabbage.
"Shanli, Aren't you going to exterminate water ghouls later? Go and rest first. I willl take care of the rabbits and Lil' Apple myself." Lan Xichen said. I just nodded at him and left the basket to him before going back to Cloud Recesses.
I ate lunch first and after that I meditated in my room until afternoon.
---
It was already afternoon before I realized. I stood up and took my sword- Xuanlu that was lying down the floor beside me and walk toward the sliding door. I still haven't opened the door I could hear noises outside. I slowly opened the door and five junior disciples were standing talking to each other. They immediately stopped as soon as they saw me.
"A-Yuan, Jingyi. What are you doing here?" I asked them.
"Jiejie... Jingyi lost his jade token and couldn't go outside." Sizhui answered. Jingyi was just beside him looking down the floor.
He looked up at me once. "Chengsu-ji, you can go without me" he said, sadly. I chuckled.
"Why don't we look for it instead?" I said and smiled at him.
"Are you looking for this?" a gentle voice suddenly interrupted. I looked to where he was standing.
"Sect Leader." the juniors in front of me greeted Lan Xichen who was just standing beside us. He just nodded at them and gave the jade token in his hands to Jingyi.
Jingyi gladly accepted it and clasped his hands and bowed to Lan Xichen. "Thank you sect leader." Jingyi said and Lan Xichen noddef at him.
"Take care of your jade token." he said and he moved his gaze to me
"Xiongzhang." I greeted him.
"Are you going now?" He asked and I replied with a nod.
"I'll meet up with Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji later, we should be going now." I said and he nodded.
"Mn. Be careful, okay? I'll see you in three days and report the situation to me." Lan Xichen said and I nodded at him.
We headed outside the gates of Cloud Recesses as we unsheath our sword and mounted on it and we set off to Caiyi Town.
- Caiyi Town -
We finally arrived at Caiyi Town. Caiyi Town was connected with paths of water. It was either a net of rivers densely covering the town, or dwellings packed on either sides of the web-like water paths. It was still the same since the last time I came here 15 years ago. The houses had white walls and grey roofs, and the rivers were filled with boats of baskets and people. On the banks, they sold flowers, fruits, bamboo crafts, pastries, tea, and silk.
"Those pastries looks delicious. Can we buy some?" Lan Jingyi asked.
"Let's buy later after we finish catching water ghouls." I said. Lan Jingyi frowned.
"Hey isn't that Hanguang-jun and Senior Wei?" One of the Lan juniors pointed at the two guys walking side by side. A guy who's wearing a white robe but with a black flute hanging beside his waist, and a guy standing beside him who's also wearing white robe with a cloud patterned ribbon on his forehead. No doubt, it was Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji. But it was surprisingly to see Wei Wuxian wearing the Gusu Lan Sect robe. He never wear the Lan Sect robe before.
"Why is Senior Wei suddenly wearing our robe?" Jingyi asked as he crossed his arms looking at the lovey dovey married couple.
Wei Wuxian wave his hands at us as soon as he noticed us. He probably noticed us by our group of white robes. "Shanli! You're here!" He walk toward us with Lan Wangji following him from behind.
"Hanguang-jun, Senior Wei." the juniors saluted at their seniors. The two couple just returned the greeting with a nod. Wei Wuxian was holding a two small jars of Emperor Smile on his right hand and a bag of pastries on the left hand. I could tell that Lan Jingyi was staring at the pastries. He really wanted to buy it awhile ago but we have to do our work first.
"So what are you doing here with the juniors? Were you spying on us?" he asked with a smirk on his lips, swinging the two jars around.
"If we were spying on you then we wouldn't have showed ourselves"
"Senior Wei, why did you suddenly wore our robe?" Sizhui asked.
Wei Wuxian grin. "Even though I don't really like your sect's robe, I just thought that maybe I should wear it at least once for our first wedding anniversary, right my dear Lan Zhan?" Wei Wuxian responded in a flirtatious manner, clinging into Lan Wangji's arm. Lan Wangji nodded as his earlobe turned into shade pink. The juniors just looked at their seniors in cringe.
I just laughed awkwardly, even I can't stand their lovey dovey act. I'm a little bit jealous that they found their destined partner, and here I am, secretly loving someone... I never thought of confessing to him. After all, we're just friends.
"If you weren't spying on us then why are you here? And where is Jiang Cheng? He should be here right now, aren't they handling the Biling Lake?" Wei Wuxian asked continuously.
"Jiang Cheng won't be coming, he's handling a different matter in Yunmeng. He entrusted us to handle the water ghouls at Biling Lake, that's why we're here." I replied.
"Are you going to catch water ghouls?! Lan Zhan let's join them!" Wei Wuxian said excitedly. Lan Wangji could have refuse but he didn't. He will do anything for Wei Wuxian just to make him happy.
"Mn." Lan Wangji replied shortly agreeing to his beloved wife.
"Today is your first wedding anniversary, we don't want to bother your date. We can handle the water ghouls by ourselves." I said.
"If you say so then, have a good time catching those water ghouls!"
"Ah, right, some ragged old man told us that there was a giant snake on Biling Lake. It's been sleeping for 200 years and it woke up suddenly this week. I don't know if it's true though." he added. A snake who's sleeping for 200 years... this is the first time I've heard about it. Why did it suddenly woke up from it's deep slumber? But Wei Wuxian wasn't sure if it was true.
"Oh, and here." he throw the bag of pastries to Sizhui, catching it with his hands.
"Share it with the others, we will be going now, bye!" Wei Wuxian added and left with Lan Wangji. I turned around to face the Lan juniors but they were already eating the pastries Wei Wuxian gave them. I dipped my hand inside the bag and took one pastry and bite at it.
"Chengsu-ji, do you think what Senior Wei said was true?" Jingyi asked with a frightened expression.
"We're not sure yet. He doesn't know if it's true but we should ask the people here about it to make sure if it's true." I respond and bite at the pastry in my hand.
Lan Sizhui,"Should we start asking now?"
"Let's wait for someone first." I said and took a bite again. The juniors looked at me with confused expression.
"Who are we waiting for? Is there other sect who will join with us?" Lan Sizhui asked and also took a bite at the pastry on his hand.
"Yeah, it's the Ouyang Sect. They should be here any minute-"
"Chengsu-ji!" I heard a loud voice calling for me. I looked at my back and it was the junior disciples from the Baling Ouyang Sect that I invited awhile ago. They were in a boat, they hopped down as soon as they reached the land. There were 4 of them and Ouyang Zizhen was leading their group.
"Chengsu-ji." they hurried at greeting me. I nodded at them with a smile.
"We apologize for being late, during our way here from Baling, we encountered some walking corpse and we have to deal with them." Ouyang Zizhen explained.
"There's no need to apologize, are you all okay? Is someone injured?" I asked. Everyone shook their head as a no.
"That's a relief. By the way, why are there only the four of you? I was sure I wrote in the letter to bring five junior disciples." I said. I actually wrote a letter for the Baling Ouyang Sect to invite five junior disciples to atleast to experience exterminating water ghouls.
"There were actually five of us but I sent the other one to report to father. There were more fierce corpse we encountered than usual. They even outnumbered us so we just avoided them and sent the other one to report" Zizhen explained. Isn't that also the same thing that happened to A-Yuan, Jingyi and Jin Lin back in Yueling?
"Zizhen, is there a village or a town near the place where you encountered the fierce corpse?" I asked. I really got a bad feeling about this.
"A village or a town..." he looked at the sky trying to think something.
"Ah! I think there is a village!" one of the Ouyang junior said, slamming his right fist to his left palm.
Zizhen looked at the junior who just spoke. "There is? You mean the Su Village?" Zizhen asked and the junior just nodded.
"Jiejie, do you think it's the same with the case in Yueling and in Yunmeng?" Sizhui asked and I nodded.
"Wait... Sizhui... Did you just... Called Chengsu-ji... 'jiejie'?" Zizhen asked in confusion. Looking at me and back to Sizhui. I covered my mouth with my loose sleeve and laughed at his reaction. Sizhui never called me jiejie for a year amd he just started calling me older sister this noon.
"You didn't know? Chengsu-ji is Sizhui's older sister!" Jingyi responded.
"Although we're only half siblings" Sizhui said. Jingyi looked at him with wide eyes.
"Eh? Why didn't you tell me that?"
"Now,now. It doesn't matter if we're half siblings. He's still my brother and I'm his older sister" I said.
---
After they knew about Sizhui's relation with me. I told the Ouyang junior disciples about the village corpse incident in Yueling and Yunmeng.
"Zizhen, one of you needs to go back to your residence and report to Sect Leader Ouyang about the Su Village. It would be good if you check the village." I commanded. One of the Ouyang junior disciples volunteered and he left using his own swords.
Each one of us boarded a narrow boat and rowed toward Biling Lake. On our way, we asked first the people living in the banks some information that concerns water ghouls and the giant snake Wei Wuxian told us about. All the information I gathered were just the same. The people here doesn't know anything about the giant snake. If the people here doesn't know about it then there's a possibility that the ragged old man was lying.
They also told us that water ghouls would flip the boats and will attack the people boarding in it. Some people beg for us to find the bodies of their husbands and childrens who got attacked by water ghouls. My heart tightens at the sight. I couldn't promise them but I told them I'll do my best to find them.
The other disciples asked too except Jingyi and Zizhen who looks so busy competing at who can row faster. I sighed. If Lan Wangji was here, he will surely punish Jingyi, he might punish Zizhen too.
"Jingyi! Zizhen! What information did you got?" I asked at them. Both of them looked at me at the same time.
"Some boats wich carried foods would sunk." Zizhen replied.
"It seems like water ghouls caused it." Jingyi added. So both of them were also asking. I continued asking the people but I suddenly heard a ruckus from the banks not far from me. Even Jingyi and Zizhen stopped from competing.
"Chengsu-ji!" a disciple from the Ouyang sect called me rowing his boat toward me.
"What happened?" I asked with a hint of worry.
"Sizhui is in trouble, an old guy is stopping him from getting on the boat."